


Mirror, Mirror

by BastetCG



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Anxiety, Comedy, Fae & Fairies, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Retellings, Light Angst, M/M, References to Depression, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-01-15 18:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12326844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BastetCG/pseuds/BastetCG
Summary: A long, long time ago, a prince was stuck in a castle.  Enter Yuuri Katsuki, a not-quite-scribe who has a penchant for over thinking and no map.  Coupled with the prince and his new dog, Yuuri must fight against the misguided efforts of one extremely irate fairy.  Fairytale non-sense ensues.





	Mirror, Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> I promised myself I wasn't going to post yet ANOTHER WIP until I finished Fondue or Anti-venom, but it's my birthday so I'll do what I want. I've been mulling this AU over for a while, and writing for it on and off for a couple months, so why not? :D

“A long, long time ago,” his mother would always start.  Yuuri knew the story by heart by the time he was four-and-a-half.  He’d snuggle into bed with Mari by his side, rolling her eyes at his excitement.

“A long, long time ago, a child was born to the king and queen.  The child had beautiful shining eyes and a heart-melting smile.  The king and queen doted on their child, as did all in the palace.  Despite being spoiled, the child grew to be kind and loving, just like the king and queen, and for a long time all the kingdom was happy.”

Yuuri would press his lips tight together in anticipation of his mother’s next words.  He didn’t like this part.

“But that happiness did not last.  A plague descended upon the castle, leaving the child orphaned and alone as the servants fled.  Desperate for something to fill the loneliness, the child sought the help of a fairy.”

“Stupid,” Mari would always hiss under her breath.  “Everyone knows not to make deals with fairies.”

“Shh!”

And Mari would roll her eyes, but clutch Yuuri tighter against her chest.

“The fairy agreed to help, but only if the child agreed to repay that help later.  Of course, the child agreed eagerly.  So the fairy enchanted the castle so the animals could keep the child company.  This delighted the child, and so passed many years.  The fairy returned to the castle, demanding to be repaid for his favor, but the child did not recognize him and turned the fairy away.  The fairy grew angry, and turned the enchantment into a curse.  Vines from the gardens grew tall and thick around the castle, and the last surviving royal fell into a deep sleep, only to be woken by true love’s kiss.”

Then Yuuri’s mother would turn the small book towards Mari and Yuuri and show them a picture of a slim figure with long silver hair from behind.  The figure gazed out on a wide expanse of beautiful greenery, but its posture seemed lackadaisical and uninterested.

“She’s so pretty,” Yuuri said one night.  “Hasn’t anyone saved her yet?”

“Oh, sweetheart,” his mother cooed, “it’s just a story.”

“But there is a castle with vines all around it!” he protested.  “In the forest!  Everyone knows it’s there.”

“The castle has been abandoned for centuries, Yuuri, and the forest is dangerous.  Now close your eyes and sleep.”

“One day I’m gonna be a knight and I’m gonna save her!”

Mari snorted at that.  “Aww, you wanna kiss her?  Do you have a crush on her?”

“N-No!  But maybe I can find someone who loves her, and they can kiss her.”

“That’s kind of dumb,” Mari said matter-of-factly.  “And it sounds like a lot of work.”

“I’ll do it, you’ll see!”

“Hush you two!  Sleep!”  Their mother drew the blankets tighter around their shoulders, then smoothed the thin comforter out.  “Pleasant dreams,” she said between kisses to their foreheads.  She stoked the embers under the soup pot at the center of their tiny hovel, then join their father on the other side of the fire pit.

“You’ll see.  I’ll save her,” Yuuri yawned against his sister’s shoulder.  “One day.”

 

* * *

 

 

Viktor woke up to something wet leaving sticky, smelly trails over his face.  The next thing he was conscious of was two sharp points of weight pressing into his chest.  He spluttered and reached out to push the snuffling wetness away.  His hand made contact with something furry.

Oh.

He swore he could hear his eyes creaking open.  His whole body felt unreal, like he’d just woken up from an unintentionally long nap, which may have very well been the case.  When his eyes finally focused, he realized the hot, smelly air surrounding him was dog breath.

“Hello there,” Viktor said.  “Who let you into the castle?”  He attempted to remove the dog’s feet from his chest, since the pressure was getting painful, but the dog had other plans and began jumping all over Viktor’s body, clearly excited to play.

“Whoa! Whoa! Silly thing!  It’s too early for me to play with you.”  He took the opportunity to sit up in his narrow bed.  Well, it wasn’t a bed so much as a pedestal, which was strange.  Actually, this wasn’t even his bedroom.  He glanced around the room, with a furrowed brow.  Why on earth had he taken a nap in the highest room in the keep?  He stretched his arms and pulled his legs out from underneath the dog.

“So what’s your name?” Viktor asked.  His smile faded slightly when the dog just wagged her tail at him.  “Are you shy?  It’s okay.  You can talk to me.”

The dog just held his gaze.  Huh.  That was strange.  All the animals in the castle could talk.  Maybe this dog, who he’d never seen before was an exception?  Because she hadn’t been present when the castle was enchanted? That must have been it.

“Well, if you can’t tell me your name I’ll just have to give you one, won’t I?”

The dog blinked, tongue lolling out of her mouth.

“Give me a moment.  A beautiful girl such as you needs a name just as beautiful.”  He tapped his chin a few times.  “Gretchen?”  No response.  “Alexandra?”  No response.  “Rumplestiltskin?”  No response.  “Makkachin?” the dog’s ears perked and Viktor broke into a grin.  “Wonderful!  You’ll be Makkachin!”  He reached out to pet her, but she trailed his hand eagerly with her eyes, tilting her head back.  There was obviously no ill-will meant from her actions, as her doggy grin only grew, so Viktor let her sniff and lick his hand until she was content.  Then she let him ruffle her ears and stroke her cheeks.  Viktor stood after a few minutes, and Makkachin hopped off the strange stone hewn bed.  His stomach was beginning to rumble, and Makkachin must have been hungry too.  He paused for a moment, sensing something off.  He glanced to the right and saw a large oval mirror hanging on the wall.

‘I don’t remember hanging a mirror in this room,’ he thought to himself.  Then again, he was rather forgetful.  As he looked closer at the mirror, he hummed to himself.  He felt like he would have remembered hanging something so extravagant in such a plain place.  It was much nicer than any mirror Viktor had ever seen, with the metal polished to pristine smoothness, and its winding gold frame.  Makkachin sniffed at Viktor’s feet, prompting him to turn around, towards the keep window.

“Oh—” the sound was aborted almost as soon as he opened his mouth.

Instead of the rolling fields of farmland and fallow fields, all Viktor could see was vines.  A few creeping stems threatened to enter the castle through the open window, but what frightened Viktor was that when he leaned out to get a better look, he had to crane his head upwards to see the top of the green wall.

“Oh dear,” was all he could manage.

 

* * *

 

 

Turns out, you had to own a horse to be a knight.  And have a king to serve.  And considering Yuuri had _neither_ of those things, the whole “knight dream” faded pretty quickly.  But it turned out that Yuuri’s penmanship was perfect.  And then there was an incident involving a cow and some beans and a monk, and long story short, he’d catch a wagon to take him around the forest to the monastery to pick up books to copy.  It was tiring to travel so often, but it wasn’t like he had anything better to do.  It was either translate tomes or sweat in the fields.  And the monks paid him well.  Last time they’d given him half a measure of dried pork, and God in heaven, had that been a treat!

And of course, he still helped out around their hovel as much as he could.  He helped his mother cook, and in the spring he helped his father plow the fields.  Mari would tease him about being soft and sensitive to the heat, but he could tell she was very proud of him for making something more than a peasant of himself.  Not many in their king-less kingdom could read, let alone write.  Mari had foregone both, deciding she didn’t mind physical labor.  But Yuuri had been so fascinated by books.  Or a book.  The only book his family owned.  The title had worn off generations ago, but his mother had stayed up late with him, showing him how to trace the letters on the pages with his forefinger.

For years, Yuuri had practiced using a stick to write letters into the dirt outside their home.  He was a perfectionist, and had used all his free time to shape each letter perfectly until it was as natural as blinking.

And then there was the whole cow-bean-monk thing and now he was heading out with Yuko once again to the monastery.  They usually talked for the three hours it took for Yuko’s donkey to pull them to the monastery, but for whatever reason, Yuko only stared at the reins in her hands today.  Yuuri shifted uncomfortably, trying to think of something to say.  They were coming upon the turn that took them around the forest.  He could see the trees peaking up from the horizon if he squinted.  He reached into his heavy bag to pull out the glasses the monks had given him and pinched them over his nose.

That got a reaction out of Yuko.  He couldn’t help but smile as she laughed.  He knew he probably looked ridiculous, but the glasses were helpful.

“I’m sorry I’m not much fun today,” Yuko sighed when she finally finished laughing.

“It’s alright.”

“There’s just been a lot going on recently.  Between the failed harvest last fall and our only cow dying.”

“I understand.”

“Thanks.”

Yuuri could tell there was something else bothering her, but it would be rude to pry.  If Yuko wanted to talk to him about something, she would talk.  But he was curious too.  For a few more tense moments, the only sounds were the heavy clomps of the donkey’s hooves and the creaking of the wagon wheels.

“If you don’t mind me ask—”

“I think I’m pregnant.”

Yuuri blinked twice, tongue caught in his throat.

“I’m sorry, I just needed to say it.  I’m just so stressed out right now.  Takeshi and I are barely scraping by as it is, there’s no way we can take care of another person.”  The words tumbled out so quickly Yuuri almost didn’t understand what she was saying.  Her grip around the reigns tightened and she frowned.

“Y-Yeah,” Yuuri said lamely.  “That sounds scary.”

“I’m sorry, that’s a lot to put on you,” Yuuko sighed.

“No! It’s fine!  I’m just shocked!  And concerned for you.”

“Is it bad that I’m a little happy though?” Yuko asked.

“I don’t think so?”  Why Yuko would think Yuuri had any kind of expertise in this situation was beyond him.  He didn’t exactly have much free time to court or be courted, let alone deal with _pregnancy_ scares. 

And thus resumed the uncomfortable silence.  Yuuri fiddled with his glasses, pressing them tight over his nose again.

“For what it’s worth,” he said quietly, “I think you two would be great parents.  If you are pregnant.”

Yuko’s worried frown twitched into a small smile.  “Thanks, Yuuri.  That means a lot.”  Just as she met his eye for the first time that trip, the cart jolted violently.  “Shit!” Yuko shouted.  The donkey was down, and something had caused the cart to tilt dramatically.

“Did we hit a rock?” Yuuri asked as they both hopped out of the cart to inspect the damage.  Yuko seemed to have the donkey under control, so Yuuri checked the cart wheels.  They hadn’t hit a rock.  They’d hit a boulder.  Yuuri let out a heavy sigh.  There was a large dent in the left wheel, splinters of wood poking off the new jagged edge in every which way. That was going to make for a very bumpy ride to and from the monastery.

“How’s Oda?” he asked.

“Doesn’t look like he broke anything,” Yuko responded with a grunt.  “But he scraped up one of his legs.”  She forced the donkey upwards, and after a few false steps the donkey eventually stood, obviously favoring his left side.

“There’s no way he’ll be able to get us to the monastery and back,” Yuuri said softly.

“Yes he can.  Might be a little later than usual, but we can still make it!”

“You got a busted wheel too.  I don’t think Oda will like pulling a wobbly cart with a wobbly leg.”

Groaning, Yuko replied, “Shit…”

“It’s fine.  I can walk there.  It’ll take about the same amount of time if I just cut through the forest.”

Yuko pursed her lips.  “You know as well as I do how dangerous the forest can be.”

“But you don’t know how dangerous Brother James can be when his books don’t arrive on time,” Yuuri joked, hoping she’d just let him go.  She eyed him suspiciously.

“You have to promise me you’ll stay on the path.”

“Why would I stray off the path?” he scoffed.  Even children knew that meant certain death.

“Just promise me?”

“I promise.  I’ll stay on the path.  I’ll be back home in three days.  I promise.”

Yuko’s scowl stayed plastered in place.  “Fine.  Three days, or Takeshi and I will hunt you down.”

“Got it.”

With a hug for Yuko and a pat behind Oda’s ear, Yuuri set off for the monastery on foot.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated!
> 
> Visit my twitter [here](https://twitter.com/bastetwrites) for updates, polls, and more!!  
> or scream with me on tumblr [here](https://bastetcg.tumblr.com)


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